Bioresorbable stents make Cleveland Clinic’s Top 10 innovations for 2017

Centerline Biomedical Rounds Up Successful Year With Series A Fundraising

CLEVELAND, Dec. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Surgical navigation startup Centerline Biomedical, Inc. closed a Series A funding round in December 2016. This significant milestone comes on the heels of several preclinical studies and builds upon successful financing and outreach achieved over the course of 2016, driving the company forward in its commercialization mission.

Innovation can pave the road ahead for health reform | Opinion

The struggle to bring about health reform in the United States — greater access, better outcomes, reduced cost — has been a long and winding road. And the outcome of the presidential election this year has some in the health care industry fearing more obstacles ahead.

Why Cleveland Is America's Hottest City Right Now

LeBron James famously declared after the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first NBA title this past June that “It’s Cleveland Against The World”.

If you haven’t been paying attention since then, Cleveland is still on a winning roll. And I’m not just talking about the Cavs or the Indians, who are playing the Chicago Cubs in the World Series this week vying to win their first baseball championship in 68 years. This past July, every hotel room downtown was sold out for the week when the Republican National Convention came to town.

NeuroTherapia, Inc. has received a $1.7 million commitment from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to advance its drug NTRX-07 toward human clinical trials. This inventive therapy targets a cannabinoid receptor in the brain, which is a new approach for treating Alzheimer’s and other neurologic diseases.

Centerline’s advanced surgical navigation system was shown to provide the surgeon with a precise 3D “GPS-like” tool without the harmful effects of radiation currently associated with X-ray fluoroscopy. Specifically, catheters and guidewires were easily visualized on the IOPS display, and the system allowed for excellent accuracy in navigating through the arteries.

The successful completion of this first preclinical study is a significant step in Centerline’s development efforts. Company President Vinod Goel stated, “We are excited about reaching this important milestone as we launch our campaign for Series-A financing. This study is an important step in taking us to our goal of FDA regulatory submission, with market entry targeted in the third quarter of 2017.”

Endovascular surgeries such as stenting currently rely on X-ray fluoroscopy, which exposes surgeons and patients to cancer-causing radiation. X-ray imaging also provides limited two-dimensional visualization, making navigation and positioning a challenge. The study, led by Cleveland Clinic surgeon Dr. Matthew Eagleton, an international expert on minimally-invasive aortic surgery, demonstrated IOPS’ ability to provide non-radiation-based navigation with superior visualization compared to fluoroscopy.

“Preclinical evaluation of the IOPS system verified the ability to use this navigation system in manipulating through the aorta and its branches in the absence of radiation-inducing fluoroscopy,” said Eagleton. “This will be a game-changer in the era of endovascular therapy.”

Centerline Chairman and CEO Dr. Jai Gupta added, “This highly innovative IOPS technology has the global potential to impact positively the lives of a large number of patients and caregivers alike.”

Threat Assessment and Wearables Lead 2016 Healthcare Innovations

As the use of mobile health (or mHealth) expands, threat assessment capabilities have become more critical than ever, and these two trends have dominated the healthcare innovation conversation for some time now. This year promises new applications that surpass traditional use and begin to incorporate elemental technologies into more proactive security initiatives and deeper clinical applications.